The invention relates to a cover for a machine bed of a machine tool with covering boxes which can be pushed telescopically one inside another.
A covering box for covers which can be telescopically lengthened and shortened for slideways on machine tools is known from DE 40 26 609 C1. The covering box has a top wall and two side walls arranged at right-angles to the top wall, which are directly or indirectly connected to an end wall of the box. The covering box further has catches arranged on the end wall, above the side walls, projecting outwards, for the next largest covering box which has a corresponding counter catch. Each side wall has a longitudinal notch or a longitudinal slit on its edge adjacent the end wall, through which the front end of the catch, which is connected in a removable manner to the end wall in the form of a bar, protrudes. The covering box is made from a one-piece sheet metal blank. The longitudinal notches or longitudinal slits are necessary for attaching the catch, in the form of a bar, to the box.
The manufacturing cost for a covering box of this type with a bar is relatively high. In order to ensure that the end wall of the box, on which the catch is fixed, is not bent by the forces occurring when the boxes are displaced, it is known from DE 40 26 609 to weld the end wall to the side walls. The welding procedure must be carried out very carefully as distortion of the covering box can result due to the heat created during welding. Such distortion of the covering box cannot be completely ruled out, so subsequent straightening of the covering box is necessary.